


Knight in shining armor

by CandyCanine



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:48:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29061600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandyCanine/pseuds/CandyCanine
Summary: Major Knight’s somewhat boring and monotonous life takes a turn for the better when the male Courier knocks his arrow for him.
Relationships: Male Courier/Major Knight
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

Life in the Mojave Outpost was, at times, as interesting as it had been back in the little nameless town where he hailed from. To be honest, he didn’t have any exact imaginations about how his life would turn out to be when he’d joined the military, but it hadn’t surprised him that his superiors hadn’t seen it really fit to have him in the front rows of the fighting ranks.

It wasn’t that he was upset about his current post, quite the contrary actually. It was a steady, satisfying occupation, the repairing of things. With the conditions they faced here he never ran out of things to repair, and he had thought, at first, that he ‘d be happy enough. And if it hadn’t been for the fucking paperwork, he might have been. Putting the threats of irradiation, mutated critters, and the Legion aside, of course. At least now, after having been sent to Mojave, he was safe from the nagging of his dear old mom about her favourite topic: grandchildren.

Polishing the last bits of oil from the gun he had been tinkering with, Knight tried not to pull a face. He had six siblings and as far as he knew, all of them were happily married and as busily producing more offspring to the Knight-Clan as his own parents had been. He was an uncle nine times already, and thinking about the gaggle of nieces and nephews he had always made him smile. But the thought of having to produce his share of the flock... honestly, sometimes he felt he should have had the guts to tell his mother the truth, at least before he had been sent off into the Mojave, god only knows when to return. If ever he returned, considering the Legion.

The door opened and the latest patrol came in, as usual covered in sweat, grime and dirt, dropping off a few weapons on his counter that he only could feel sorry for. He handed out the various forms and got out his stamp. 

“How’s the weather been?”, he asked brightly. 

One of the soldiers took off his helmet, and a sharp line on his forehead between the reddish-grey of his face and the normal tone of his skin on his forehead showed where his helmet had been. 

“Oh, a fine Mojave day, no doubt. Could do with a bit of rain though.”

The two men shared a grin when the others rolled their eyes upon listening to this exchange, something of a running gag between Major Knight and Sgt. Fallers.

“Ran into any Legionaries?”, Knight asked conversationally as he inspected onto of the rifles that had a jammed trigger.

“No, thank god”, the sergeant replied. “Just a group of motherfucking fire geckos.”

Knight looked up sharply. “Any casualties?”

“Only one injured, McGregor, and she’s already being patched up.”

“Well, thank god for that.”

The soldiers left again and Knight set off to work, turning up the volume of the radio and whistling along the tune as he picked up a screwdriver and squinted at the jammed trigger. While his fingers worked, his mind strayed a little, regretting yet again that Sgt. Fallers was out of his league. Such a fine piece of ass... he suppressed a smile. He’d go batshit if he ever heard that out of his mouth, though. Not that he planned on saying something like it, anyway, to anyone. His personal disposition was the one thing he hadn’t taken into consideration when he had signed up, and it was the one thing giving him trouble now and then. 

He remembered well when, shortly after he’d finished his training, two other recruits had been caught making out in a storage shed and god... the mocking and teasing had went on for months, culminating in some really nasty pranks on their expense.

Knight didn’t like to dwell on that too much, as one of the lads had tried to eat his gun over the whole affair but had been stopped in the nick of time by his CO. Both of the lads had resigned after the incident, and the only good thing coming out of it was that it had taught Knight to keep his personal preference to himself so he could avoid sharing their fate.

As he cleaned the parts of the gun thoroughly to remove the last traces of desert dust that seemed to get into everything, he was so lost in concentration that he didn’t notice the door had opened and someone had come in.

When he did, however, he looked up into the face of a man roughly his own age, with dark blonde hair and the kind of goatee that seemed to be much more effort than it was worth to keep while travelling in the desert.

But it was neither the blonde, wavy hair that the stranger smoothed back with one hand after removing his wide-brimmed cowboy hat, neither were it his eyes, green and sparkling with life and good humour. It was his voice, deep, rich and smooth and slightly smoky, just like a really good whiskey. He had never heard a voice like that and he had to admit to himself it made his stomach flutter.

The stranger, who had gone down into the records as courier for now, had his gear repaired and was out of the door again with a friendly nod, leaving Knight to stare dry-mouthed at his retreating back. Black leather armour should be fucking banned on guys like that one.

The stranger came back the very next day, and with him came really bad news about the Legion and Nipton. Knight only heard it via second-hand rumour, and even as he stood there, wishing feverishly for another look upon that handsome stranger, the door opened and in he walked, seemingly unfazed by the atrocities he supposedly had witnessed. When he hailed him in that terrible deep and silky voice again Knight was, for a second, overwhelmed by the wish of having that voice say his name.

The stranger shot him an amused look, his eyes glittering with humour and with a smirk on his lips, as if he had noticed his distress... in fact, as if he knew exactly what Knight had been thinking.

Knight himself tried to cover himself up as good as possible while he explained procedures but again, the stranger caught him completely off guard when he said, ever so casually, that he hadn’t told him his name.

“Oh...” For a second there Knight thought that the stranger was teasing him but something... somewhat... about him was... intriguing, to say the least. Still, there remained all the issues he had been thinking about only the day before. “Knight. You must not be from around here. If so... it doesn’t do to get too friendly.”

The stranger seemed honestly puzzled for a moment or two before speaking again. “Something wrong with asking your name?”

Of course there wasn’t anything wrong with asking someone’s name. Yet how he could explain it to the stranger without giving himself away... he spoke in a low voice, trying not to sound too obvious about it all. He had to work here, after all, and he said as much.

Knight half expected the Stranger to end the conversation then and there, considering him not worth the trouble, but he asked, as if he couldn’t let the matter rest, if that now meant he would or wouldn’t mind being friends. The way he stressed the word friend made Knight’s stomach flutter for a second. He discovered, though, that he simply didn’t dare to make any commitment, not with the memories of the two recruits so freshly in his mind.

“I... would, perhaps some other time. When my orders take me to Vegas, perhaps. Wish things were different, but might take some time.” 

The stranger looked disappointed for a second before flashing him a good-natured grin. “Well, you got to have leave at some point. Maybe we can catch up in Vegas one fine day.”

After giving the stranger no more than a non-committing nod, and hating himself for his cowardice, Knight busied himself with his gun and didn’t dare to look up again before the door had closed behind that handsome stranger with the beautiful voice.

He wondered if he would ever see him again, but he doubted it. Only then did it occur to him that for the first time in months, someone had – seemingly – attempted to flirt with him and he had been too gutless even to ask his name.


	2. Chapter 2

It was several weeks later before the stranger returned, even more sunburned and with his leather armour a little worse for wear. He dropped a sniper rifle and a battered SMG onto Knight’s desk, and gave him a brilliant smile.

“Hi! Fancy running into you again!”

“Fancy that”, Knight gave back with a grin. That smile was terribly infectious. “What brings you here?”

“Repairs, mostly. And something I came to think about.” 

Knight wasn’t sure, it might have been a trick of the light, but he thought the stranger had winked at him. Trying to keep his voice sounding non-committing, he didn’t look up from the guns as he spoke. “What’s that?”

“Well, firstly that I forgot to tell you my name. I’m Leo. So, now that we’re properly introduced, I’d like to ask you something.”

Knight looked up at that, lifting his eyebrows. The stranger – no, Leo – looked at him with unmasked amusement.

“Your name’s Knight, right? Does your family by chance hail from Shady Sands?”

“From a farm in the area, close enough”, Knight replied, honestly puzzled now. “Why?”

“See, my sister’s husbands cousin is married to a girl there”, Leo explained, waving his hands as if to illustrate the complicated web of kinships he was explaining. “And the name of that guy is also Knight. So I was wondering if that Knight had anything to do with you.”

“He might”, Knight gave back, as amused as he was confused. “What’s his name?”

“Uh... what was his name...” Leo narrowed his eyes, glanced at Knight for a second before grinning and snapped his fingers. “George!”

Major Knight didn’t know anyone in his family called George apart from his maternal grandfather. Only when he looked at Leo again and saw him stare expectantly at him with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eyes did he suspect he was being lured. He took the bait. “What, George?”

“Hah! I don’t believe it!” Leo rubbed his hands together in glee. “The world’s a tiny place, isn’t it?”

“It is”, Knight gave back, still completely mystified at Leo’s intentions. 

“Funny old world”, Leo gave back, still grinning. “Travelling the Mojave and running into Family.” He chuckled. “Hey, now that we’re discovered we’re practically cousins... fancy a beer tonight, after your shift? I’ll be over in the barracks. I’m dying to hear some news about Anne-Mary.”

“Uhm. Well, the latest news I have is a couple of months old, so it’s not really that new”, Knight gave back, trying to keep up with events.

“Oh.” Leo said with a dismissive flick of his hand. “It’s newer than the last I heard, anyway. Well, I’ll see you in a bit, Coz.” 

With that, he walked out of the door, leaving Knight to stare at his back wondering if the man called Leo just lacked a few marbles, or if he had some hidden motive behind that whole scheme. He rather hoped for the latter and still had no idea what to do then.

“Hey Knight”, one of the soldiers who had been loitering in a corner said to him with a laugh. “We knew your family was quite a clan, but that it stretches out over half the bloody continent...” 

The others joined the laugh.

“Well”, Knight gave back. “I guess we’re just too fertile.”

The laughter turned a little coarse and one of the soldiers patted his arm with a dirty chuckle as he past him on the way out.

Knight had to admit to himself he was a little nervous when he headed over towards the barracks after his shift. It was clear to him that Leo wanted something, yet what it was, he had no idea. Well, he suffered from wishful thinking, but he tried not to let that cloud his mind or his judgement.

When he entered he saw Leo sit at a table in the faraway corner, waving Knight over when he spotted him. Since it was already late in the evening they had the place practically to themselves, and after buying a couple of beers, Knight joined the handsome stranger, offering him one.

Leo took the beer with a grin. “Thanks, Coz.”

Knight sat down, took a swig of his beer and mustered Leo over the rim of his bottle. The latter returned the look with so much unmasked amusement in his eyes that he almost seemed on the verge of breaking out into laughter. 

After a few minutes of silence, Knight leaned a little forward. “What do you want?”

“What do you mean?” Leo replied, all innocent big green eyes. “I wanted to…”

“Don’t give me that bullshit about my... ‘cousin George’”, Knight said in a low voice. 

Leo chuckled. “Sorry for that”, he said. “I couldn’t think of something else.”

“What for? What do you want of me?”

Leo took a sip of his beer, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “I wanted to make your acquaintance.”

Knight blinked a few times. “And why?”, he finally asked.

It was Leo’s turn to blink. “Why not?”

The door opened and four soldiers entered the bar, talking and laughing and ordering beers with cheerful yells.

“So how’s Anne doing?” Leo asked, his voice conversational and loud enough to carry through the room, though not so loud as to raise suspicions. “And George... is he a brother of yours?”

“No, my cousin.”, Knight gave back, thinking on his feet. “He’s my father’s brother’s son.”

Leo seemed to think. “You’re a big family, aren’t you?”

“Quite”, Knight gave back dryly. “I’ve got six siblings, two brothers and four sisters. My father has five brothers and two sisters, my mother, however, had only a sister. Well... we don’t talk about the Clan of Knights back home for nothing.”

He managed a chuckle. Since they chatted about supposed family connection and had an audience, Knight pulled the slightly crumpled picture from his pocket. 

“Look.” 

He shoved it over and Leo took it, staring the picture for a good five seconds before he managed to re-arrange his face into a grin that looked, to Knight at least, despite their short acquaintance, a little artificial.

“Wow”, Leo said. “All yours?”

“What?” Knight stared at Leo, then guffawed. “No.” His laughter died off into a chuckle. “Nieces and nephews”, he said then. “My siblings’ children, the lot of them.”

“Ah.” Leo smoothed out the picture before handing it back. “So you... haven’t joined the... ahm... production process of more Knights yet?”

Knight shook his head and, with a glance over his shoulder at the other four soldiers, patted his pockets and took out a pack of cigarettes. “Care to join me?”

“Sure.”

Once outside, they settled down at one of the tables, the one farthest from the entrance to the barracks. Knight lit up a smoke and, after seeing him futilely patting several pockets, offered Leo a cigarette from his own pack.

“Thanks”, Leo said with a grin and produced a lighter that he flicked on with a toss of his head. 

In the darkness around them, the light of the flame illuminated his face in a reddish-orange glow. Suddenly Knight noticed Leo was looking at him over the flame of the lighter, the flickering of the orange light reflecting in his eyes. It made his mouth suddenly go dry. _Moron_ , he told himself.

“So.” Leo took a deep breath and exhaled a slow cloud. “Where were we.”

“You were asking me if I hadn’t joined the production process yet”, Knight gave back. 

The other man chuckled. “Right. So?”

Knight took his time answering, inhaling deeply and blowing a long bluish cloud before he spoke. “No. And I’m not going to, either.”

“Oh?” Leo leaned back and crossed his arms, the cigarette between the second and third finger of his right hand. “Why’s that?”

Knight debated with himself how much he dared to tell this stranger, then shrugged. _Nothing ventured, nothing gained_.

“I don’t... particularly fancy myself a married man”, he said. 

Leo slowly raised his right hand, clamped his lips around the cigarette, and crossed his arms again while he puffed his cheeks. “Yeah... I suppose being in the military wouldn’t make that easy.”

Knight watched a cloud over his head disappear. “Being in the military has little to do with it.”

A long pause followed these words, and when Knight finally dared to look at Leo again, he found the other man watching him with a strange sort of interest.

“I could imagine, with your family and all, that your folks are expecting as much of you, though. Been pestering you into getting married, I s’ppose.”

“Yeah, quite.” Knight extinguished the butt end in the ashtray before him. “With a clan like that, expectations are pretty high in that department. Not much tolerance for someone being... out of the usual.”

“Ah.” Leo tapped the ash of his cigarette and looked at him while he took another puff of smoke. “See, I don’t have much of a family anymore... apart from George.” And here he grinned. “Be that as it may, I feel kinda lonely sometimes. I kind of envy you your large family... it must be great to have a lot of close kin. However, I don’t fancy myself a married man that much either.”

Their eyes met, and the air between them suddenly seemed so charged that Knight wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d produce sparks with snapping his fingers. Leo’s gaze grew more intense, and Knight, unable to look away, slowly uncrossed his arms and folded his hands on the table.

Leo dropped his head back and blew a cloud of smoke upward, leaving Knight to stare at his throat. “I guess it would break your poor old mother’s heart if you told her you’re gay.”

For some reason this simple statement, as true as it was, hit Knight like a fist in the stomach. Obviously, Leo was done with beating about the bushes, but where exactly did he mean to go?

“I guess so, too”, he replied as calmly as he could. “That’s why she doesn’t know yet. And if I may ask... how did you know I’m gay? Was I being that indiscreet?”

Leo looked at him again with a soft chuckle and a twinkle in his eye. Knight realised he liked that twinkle. A lot. “Well”, Leo said in a slow drawl, his voice deeper as usual which made shivers creep down Knight’s spine. Then he looked straight at Knight, eyes still sparkling. “Takes one to know one, I guess.”


	3. Chapter 3

That secret revelation had been five nights ago now. They had spent the evening chatting about this and that, their lives, childhood, and god knows what else, completely loosing track of time as it turned out. First when they had noticed a silvery stripe above the eastern horizon had they realised they had talked the whole night away.

“You’re an easy one to talk to”, Leo had said with one of his infectious grins.

“Same to you, I guess”, Knight had given back. “You’ve not been the only one talking.”

Leo had chuckled and gotten up, saying he had to leave. Had things to do. And had suddenly looked very earnest.

_“I’ll not be back for a while, I guess”, he said. “I’ve got stuff I gotta do, really important stuff, but…”_

_“Hey, it’s all right. You don’t have to tell me if it’s not my business.”_

_Leo looked relieved. “You know what?”_

_“What?”_

_He chuckled. “I only know your surname. You sure must have a first name as well?”_

_“Oh.” Knight lit up another smoke. “It’s William.”_

_“William?” Leo smiled again, his teeth shining in the dim light of pre-dawn. “Can I call you Billy?”_

_“No.” With a swift move, Knight pocketed his lighter. “That’s what my daddy used to call me when I was seven or so. That’s what he still calls me when he’s got to berate me for something.” Then he grinned. “But William sounds so formal, and all my aunties called me that. Just stick to Will.”_

_“Will.” Leo smiled, and held out his hand._

_Knight took it and they clasped hands, but when their eyes met, words suddenly failed both of them. They mutely stared at each other for a moment or two before Leo hesitatingly let go of Knight’s hand._

_“Well then”, he said. “I’ll be back, I promise. I don’t know when, but I’ll be back.”_

_“You know where to find me”, Knight gave back and Leo nodded with a sudden painful twist around his mouth._

_“Take care of yourself, Will.”_

_“Seems like you need to do that more than I do.”_

_A smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes flashed on Leo’s face for a second. “Yeah, I know. I’ll see you when... I’ll see you when I’ll see you.”_

Knight had watched Leo trot down the rise towards the Nipton Road, wondering if he would ever see him again. The thought had caused him a strange constricting pain in his chest that completely overlaid the agony at the thought of having to spend a day at his counter with no sleep whatsoever.

The day had turned out to be as unpleasant as expected, and seemed to have far more hours than a day technically should possess.

By now, five days later, Knight began to grow used to suppressing the nagging worry about Leo and his mysterious mission. He kept himself busy, cleaned out long-neglected filing cabinets when he had some time to spare, and tried to do as little thinking as possible.

After a few weeks had passed, Knight was beginning to accept the bitter truth that he would never see Leo again. Quite obviously, whatever he had been about to do, whatever had had him so worried, had obviously killed him. But then rumours began to trickle in about the supposed vanishing of Mr. House.

At the same time, some sort of courier, a stranger with no name, had been known to be the first person in living memory to enter the Lucky 38. A courier who had, if the rumours were true, given the Legion the slip after infiltrating their camp and killing Caesar in his own tent. A courier who was known in Freeside as a saint to the people. No one knew where he had come from. No one knew who he was.

The talk made Knight remember the first day Leo had come to the Mojave Outpost.

“Caravan, citizen, pilgrim, or...?”

“Courier.”

Knight carefully put the rifle down and pressed his hands flat onto his counter to hide his trembling fingers.

“I’ll not be back for a while, I guess”, he said. “I’ve got stuff I gotta do, really important stuff but...”

And with goose bumps spreading out all over his body it occurred to him that moment that he, William Knight, was the only soul who knew the Courier’s name.

As the weeks went by, news of the Courier’s deeds reached the Mojave Outposts in more or less regular intervals. News regarding the Khans, the Boomers (How the hell he had managed to reach Nellis in one piece was a subject of many a heated discussion), the Followers of the Apocalypse, and the various Families on the Strip.

“Can’t believe that thing about the White Gloves, I honestly don’t”, he heard one soldier say to another in the bar one night. “I mean... okay, weirdoes, the lot of them what with their masks and all that but... cannibals?”

“I’m suddenly kinda glad I never had the bucks to take Milly to dinner there”, the other replied and both of them laughed to bury the unease caused by that piece of news deep inside.

“Hey Knight”, Fallers’ voice rang out and moments later, he sat down beside him. “Haven’t seen your cousin around here in a while.”

“He’s the straggling sort”, Knight gave back after a sip of beer. “Said he had work to do, but what kind of work...” He shrugged. “I’d rather not know.”

Fallers gave him a good natured grin. “Oh well, I guess every family has one, ey?”

The unhappy grin Knight managed at that was the most appropriate answer he could give, and Sgt. Fallers mercifully changed the subject after that.

Yet another week later Major Knight was due for leave. A few weeks past, he had eagerly looked forward to taking a few days off and spend some money on the Strip, and for a short time, had even entertained the thought of running into Leo again. Now, however Knight was sure that wherever Leo was, he wouldn’t be running around on the Strip, and he didn’t really fancy going anymore.

He tried to postpone the leave, telling his CO that there was so much to do, but he just laughed and told him he’d been so dutiful and diligent and besides, had been postponed two times already.

“Off you go”, he’d said, “And don’t you come back before Sunday, unless we let out an emergency call back.”

A dozen men and women from the Outpost made their way towards Vegas and the Strip the next morning, talking and laughing, telling each other how much money they’d make, how drunk they’d get and how many whores they’d bang, until Knight felt sick from effort of not trying to listen to them.

Faced with a whole weekend without work, he realised he had been so immersed in what he did at the Outpost during the last months that he didn’t really know what to do with himself anymore when he wasn’t on duty. But if he was being honest, the thought of picking up a companion or two for a couple of nights, get drunk and gamble a bit of his heard earned wages away, had lost its attraction the moment Leo had told him with a wink that maybe they’d catch up on the Strip one fine day.

After entering the Strip he fell a little back when the others began to surround a few of the dancing whores with jeers and wolf-whistles. Wondering if they were occupied enough for him to slip unnoticed out of the gate again towards Freeside, to see if he couldn’t find his old friend Ben, he took a few steps back, idly lighting a cigarette. He and Old Ben had made out a few times together before; he was a considerate, gentle lover, and while he gave him no illusions that there was anything more going on between them he didn’t treat Knight like a slab of meat either. Knight felt that it was all he could ask for. Beggars, after all, can’t be choosers.

When he came back to the Outpost the first thing he heard was that Cassidy, the Caravan merchant stuck in there like so many others, had upped and left. Apparently she had followed a guy who had been doing some work for Crimson Caravans, maybe an old acquaintance, maybe even an old lover.

He was listening half-heartedly to the conversation of two female soldiers passing him by, until their last words made him freeze, each word feeling like a punch in the stomach.

“He must be her lover, such a tall, blonde, handsome guy! Such a sexy voice too... god, I could scratch her eyes out for picking this one up.”

He kept telling himself that there had to be more blonde, tall handsome men with a sexy voice in the Mojave desert, but when he entered his office and took up his post, someone yelled from around a corner.

“Hey Knight, your cousin’s been asking for you! He seemed really upset you weren’t here! Well, maybe next time!”

Slowly sorting through a stack of paperwork with trembling hands, Major Knight wondered if someone was pulling a nasty prank on him.


	4. Chapter 4

As Major Knight dragged himself through the days during the next couple of weeks, heartsick and tired, he tried to make up his mind if he was glad that Leo had indeed come back for him. or only upset that he himself hadn’t been there when he had. Not that it would have mattered that much if he had, there was no way they could ever do anything but share a beer and a smoke and talk. 

But even that... Leo’s company alone would have been enough to keep him going. It was at that point that Knight realised how bad he had it for the handsome stranger, a man he hardly knew more of than his name. Still, just being able to share another beer with him and hear that voice again – Knight would have given his right arm and his right eye for that.

Leo didn’t come back during the next weeks, and news about the Courier was also sparse, as if the man was lying low, waiting for something to happen or... Knight refused to believe that anything bad had happened to him, he had believed that before and had been proven wrong. 

But when, after three weeks, it was his turn again for a free weekend he felt reluctant to leave. The thought of Leo showing up again while he was away caused his stomach to turn, but there was no way he could stay without raising a lot of awkward questions. So he left, his only hope that maybe on the Strip itself he could find out something about Leo’s whereabouts.

With his comrades swarming the place like a pack of coyotes would a piece of road kill, no one gave him much notice any more, so Knight turned around again after lighting up a smoke, walked back towards the gate and almost ran into a woman who had just walked through. 

“Hey dickhead, fucking watch where you’re going!”

Knight took a step back, mumbling an apology when he recognised her. “Cassidy?”

“What?” After adjusting her rattan hat, the woman, who indeed was Cassidy, looked him over, then her face lit up. “Well if it isn’t the handsome Major Knight”, she purred. “Fancy running into you here on the Strip!”

Knight flashed her a grin. Despite her foul mouth and her constant attempts at flirting with him he’d always quite liked her. “I could say the same”, he said then. “What are you doing here?”

Cassidy crossed her arms with her grin broadening into honest delight. “I live here now.”

Knight tilted his head.

“With the Courier, you see.” Cass waved her hand at the Lucky 38. “Travelling companion, and all that shite. When he moved in there, we moved in along.”

“We?” he still had trouble keeping up.

“Yeah, you know, me and the Courier and the other dickheads who tagged along like so many stray dogs. You met that guy yet? He’s a fucking lunatic, but his plans have worked out well enough.” Cassidy laughed heartily and offered him a bottle she had pulled out of her pocket. 

Knight politely declined, trying to calm his suddenly racing heart. “So the Courier lives here on the Strip?”

“That’s what I said”, Cassidy gave back and took a sip out of her bottle. “He must be around here somewhere, if you fancy meeting him. He’s the blonde guy with the goatee and a brown suit.” 

Here she waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the people flocking the whores in front of the Gomorrah, before she left him standing there, the ash crumbling down from his forgotten cigarette.

Before he’d had time to rally himself however, he heard somebody hail him.

“Knight!”

He turned around very slowly, not sure if he’d recognised the voice or just imagined he had. His heart was racing like a submachine gun.

A man wearing a brown suit with a bow tie came hurrying over and waved. “Hey, Coz!”

Frozen to the spot Knight watched as Leo came running towards him, a manic grin on his face. “It’s good to see you, man!”

Knight couldn’t help but grin back. “Same to you.” 

Leo still grinned, bit his lower lip, then laughed and threw his arms around Knight in a rib-cracking bear hug. “Man, it’s good to see you again”, he said again while slapping Knight’s back. 

Completely dazzled Knight stiffened at first, but after a second, returned the embrace. “Same to you, Leo.”

Leo leaned back. “Honestly...” Then he shook his head. “Man, and here I was wondering if I had to celebrate alone tonight.”

“Celebrate?”

“Yeah, everything’s worked out and...” Leo faltered and his eyes clouded over for a second. “You know what? Why don’t we have a drink and I tell you? Or do you already have... uhm... plans for the night?”

“What?” Everything seemed to happen a little too fast. “Oh. Oh, no. No, I didn’t have any plans.”

“Good.” Leo rubbed his hands and took Knight’s arm, dragging him along while he leaned a little closer to whisper into his hear. “See, no one will suspect anything when two cousins enter the Gomorrah together. They’ll think we’re in for some drinks and girls.”

Knight blinked. “We’re not?”

Leo laughed, his hearty, good natured laugh that Knight had been thinking about a lot during those last lonely weeks. It felt incredibly good to hear it again. 

“The drinks, yes. The girls...” He shrugged. “Well. I guess we can find something to... entertain ourselves.” Then he cast a look at Knight from the corner of his eye and winked, and Knight in turn felt his knees turn into jelly and his heart beat pick up speed, as if he was a boy on his first date.

“Man, I was so hoping you’d be on leave here one day”, Leo chattered brightly on as they headed for the large doors of the Gomorrah. “I’ve been keeping my eyes out everywhere for you…”

“Hey”, Knight interrupted him. “Why didn’t you show up in the Outpost anymore if you missed me that much?” It was out before he had a chance to check on his words and suddenly, Knight had the unpleasant feeling that he blushed. 

Leo in turn just laughed. “I would’ve, you know. But Jesus, I had so much stuff that needed doing and the Outpost... you know, it isn’t exactly round the corner.” He gave Knight an apologetic look and a shrug. “I was planning to, you know. I was there, as I’m sure you’ve heard. But one thing or another always happened, and...” 

“Yeah, yeah. All right”, Knight said and patted Leo’s shoulder. “No need to go all apologetic on me.”

Leo smiled shyly. “Thanks. See... I really…”

“Hey Knight!” One of the soldiers loitering in front of the Gomorrah waved his bottle at them. “See you found your stray cousin!”

“It’s rather he found me!”, Knight yelled back.

“So it’s a family’s night out, ey?”

“The Knights’ night!”, another one jeered, much to the audible amusement of the men around him.

“Hey cousin”, the first one now addressed Leo. “See that he gets some hair down in there. That one is so closed up I swear he’s got a coin slit for an asshole!”

His comrades howled in drunken glee.

With his grin plastered firmly onto his face Leo dragged Knight through the doors and kicked them shut behind them. “What a load of assholes.”

Knight cleared his throat. “They are like that when they’re drunk.”

“I know”, Leo said, his good humour returning to his voice. With a wink, he adjusted his bow tie and hooked his arm through Knight’s. “Come on, let’s find a drink for ourselves.”

They settled down at a table in a corner of the Brimstone bar and Leo insisted on buying the drinks. He came back to their table with two ice-cold beers, the condensation already trickling down the glass in appealing little droplets. 

“That hits the spot after walking here from the Outpost”, Knight said with a happy sigh after he had drained half the bottle in a single draught.

“Hell yeah.” Leo grinned. “I know.”

They drank in silence for a while, listening to the whistles of the men around them as one of the hookers started a strip dance on the stage. When Knight put his empty bottle down Leo knocked his own back to empty it and put it beside his, then straightened his jacket and adjusted his bow tie.

“So. I fancy trying out my luck tonight.” Leo stood up and made an inviting gesture. “Care to join me?”

Knight got up as well. “What’s the use of being on the Strip without losing a little money?”

They shared a grin and made their way towards the casino, where Leo surprised Knight yet again when he returned from the cashier with a ridiculously large pile of chips and handed him half of it. 

“You’re joking.” Knight stared at Leo, at the caps and back at Leo again. “I can’t accept that.”

Leo winked, giving Knight one of his terrible, infectious grins again. “I insist.”

“But…”

“Oh come on.” Leo held out his left hand again. “I invited you out tonight, and it’s me who’s gonna pay. If you like it’ll be your turn next time.”

“Okay. In that case...” Knight took the chips with a smile and Leo grinned even broader. 

“Sweet. Where do you want to start?” 

Knight stared at his chips and let his eyes trail across the casino. “Let’s do cards first.”

They made a little money at Black Jack and lost the lot again at the roulette tables, spending a few hours in a pleasant bubble out of reality in each other’s company, cursing the dice and cards and balls when they lost and praising them when they won.

Having run dry on chips they returned to the Brimstone bar for another beer, but this time Knight insisted that he buy the drinks. 

They clinked their bottles together after settling down and, nursing their beers, watched one of the male prostitutes doing a pole dance on the stage. It was that moment that Knight, his heart still fluttering, remembered that Leo shared his personal preferences, something he had managed to forget every now and then in his near-futile crushing on the man.

“I’d totally do him”, Leo said conversationally and took a sip of his drink,“if he weren’t a hooker.”

“Don’t do hookers?”

“I’m not dogmatic about it”, Leo gave back. “But as a principle... no. Feel too much like a job. Which I am, of course... but well. I’d prefer not to be treated like one and as of yet I haven’t found someone who doesn’t.”

“You met Old Ben yet?”, Knight blurted out and realised the same moment what he had said. He felt the unpleasant and unfamiliar burn of a blush creep onto his cheeks as Leo very slowly turned his head and looked at him, all traces of amusement gone from his eyes.

“Old Ben? I have, but I didn’t know he also... does boys.”

Knight stared at his bottle, cursing himself for his blunder and wondered if there was something he could say to smooth it over, make it not sound like he hadn’t had sex with a hooker, but where was the point? Because the plain truth was that he had.

When he finally dared to look at Leo again he found the other man stare straight ahead, but not so much angry but all the more annoyed. He was tapping the side of his bottle with a nervous finger.

“Leo?”

“Hm?” He didn’t take his eyes off the stage. 

Knight took a deep breath. “What’s wrong?”

Leo stared at the mouth of his bottle for a long while before answering. “I... I just. I don’t know.”

“You’re...” Knight tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “You’re not... seriously.... you’re not jealous, are you?”

“Of course not”, Leo snapped back far too hastily and Knight couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“Oh come on, Leo. Old Ben’s a Hooker and nothing more.”

At that, Leo looked up again, a shy smile on his face. It made Knight’s throat go dry to see him look at him like that. Their eyes met, and suddenly Knight couldn’t look away any more. In Leo’s eyes the glint of humour had vanished, replaced by a deep dark shine, a strange kind of hunger that made Knight want to drown himself in these eyes. Leo leaned a little forward, the smile widening into something genuinely happy, and placed a hand onto Knight’s. Yet years and years of hushing up had created forces of habit he couldn’t even shed in that moment, so he let his eyes sweep across the bar in search for anyone who might know him before he dared to close his fingers around Leo’s.

Leo had seen that gesture and with a sigh, let go of Knight’s fingers again before he stood up.

“Don’t move”, he said and vanished, leaving Knight wondering what he was up to now.

Knight didn’t have to wait very long, but when Leo came back he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry, or if he should maybe just slink out of the door, into the courtyard, climb over a wall and vanish. Because Leo come back to their table with a feisty grin on his face and a –female– whore in his arm.


	5. Chapter 5

“Come on, coz”, he said. “Place is getting busy at this hour and I got us the last free room.”

Knight knew his facial expression probably wasn’t very intelligent at the moment, it couldn’t be with the perplexed frown he felt deepening on his forehead, but Leo just winked and beckoned him to get up and follow. 

Knight shook his head. 

Leo chuckled. “Come on, you pansy.” 

“What?”

“Oh, coz.” Leo chuckled and dangled the key to a hotel room in his hand. “Now or never!”

Not quite knowing what he was doing and why he was doing it Knight got up at last. He followed Leo and the whore up the stairs, down a corridor and into a hotel room that was unexpectedly clean and tastefully furnished, if a little heavy on the red and golden colouring.

Knight found himself stand in the corner close to the door, frozen in embarrassment and completely mortified as he watched Leo and the whore kiss before Leo threw the girl onto the bed and unbuckled his belt after shrugging off the jacket of his suit. He slowly turned around, trying to shut off his mind, trying not to listen to the whore’s false whimpers and moans, trying even harder not to listen to Leo’s grunts as he fucked her. He wondered what the everliving fuck he was doing here, listening to Leo bang a whore. He didn’t feel the slightest bit of temptation to turn his head and catch a fleeting glimpse of Leo’s backside.

Not before too long he heard the whore moan and wail, pretending to orgasm somewhat fiercely as Leo finished himself off into her, and moments later, Leo called him over.

“Not on your life”, Knight muttered with burning ears and cheeks.

“Oh come on.” Leo walked over to him, buckling his belt. “Dear cousin William, at one point in your life…”

Knight spun around, his arms still crossed, and stared at Leo, wondering how he could ever have trusted himself to this man. He was terrified of Leo giving him away to someone, and already saw his life go to pieces because he had been unable to resist the temptation of a handsome stranger with a beautiful voice.

“Will”, Leo said calmly, trying to appease him. “I know you’re not... come on. The girl’s a real sweetheart…”

“No... I can’t believe you’d…”

Leo bit his lower lip as he stared at Knight for a second, then nodded and turned to address the whore again who was propped up onto her elbows, listening to their talk with unmasked interest.

“Listen”, Leo said to the girl, looking down at her sternly. “I thought I’d do my coz a favour... but... well. I’ll tell you this only once: If you ever let anything on about him, I’ll find you, and you’ll be out of work at the very least. I’ll not have you make an ass of him, y’understand?”

The girl, properly intimidated by his voice and his glowering look, nodded timidly and slowly got up from the bed. When she passed them by she ran a hand down Knight’s arm who was too frozen to the spot to move, so he just stared down at her.

The girl shrugged. “I could really show you the time of your life, handsome”, she purred. 

It was hard for Major Knight not to snarl at her in revulsion to get her dirty paws off him.

The girl misinterpreted his look and smiled. “There’s always Joana, you know. She’s a reputation for being the best for a...” She giggled. “For a newcomer. Try her out, you really should.”

Then she looked at Leo again. “Don’t worry, gorgeous. I’ll tell anyone who asks how you two fucked me raw.” Running a finger down the contour of Leo’s face she smiled at him under lowered lids. “Promised.”

“Thanks”, Leo said huskily and placed a kiss on her fingertips. “I’d hate to see my favourite cousin dishonoured.”

“Understood, baby.” She blew both of them a kiss and closed the door behind her.

Knight still stared at Leo and wasn’t sure if he should yell at him and ask what the fuck this had been about, or just say nothing and leave when Leo dropped his face into his hands and shuddered so violently that he looked about to faint.

“I need a shower”, he muttered hoarsely through his fingers and looked at Knight again, his face a little pale and his mouth twisted into an unhappy smile. “Please, don’t go anywhere just yet.”

With that he vanished into the bathroom and Knight still stood there in that corner close to the door, trying to stop his spinning mind.

Knight was still standing in the corner, not really sure why he was still there, when Leo emerged again, glancing around the door frame with a harried look on his face. When he spotted Knight his face lit up into such honest delight that Knight felt his stomach flutter, but smiling was still beyond him. 

Leo advanced very cautiously, as if he was afraid Knight would bolt on him should he move too fast.

They stared at each other for a long moment in a heavy, uncomfortable silence before Leo swallowed and said, in a very small and unhappy voice: “Don’t hate me.”

Knight had expected many things but not that. He shook his head in an attempt to rally himself and tried to keep his voice calm. “I don’t hate you.”

“You look at me like you do”, Leo gave back unhappily. “And I can’t say I blame you. Just... just listen, will you?”

“I feel like I’ve heard enough already”, Knight said, his betrayed trust and hurt feelings clear in his voice as well on his face. Leo flinched upon hearing these words but Knight went on. “I trusted you, pal. I guess I’m the only one to blame for that. But that you’d...” He shook his head. “What were you thinking? That you could make me straight using a whore...?”

“NO!” Leo looked as if he was about to cry, and his desperate eyes were the only thing that stopped Knight from walking out of the door at that point.

“Please...” Leo held up both hands like a supplicant. “I... when I saw you flinch, down in the bar when I...” He swallowed and groped for words. “When I took your hand...” Leo broke off and ran both hands through his still moist hair with a groan. “Will... I did this for you, you know.”

Knight felt as if he had been hit with a sack full of hammers, and it took him a while to gather his wits together to say something. “What?”

Leo looked up again, an unhappy grin on his face. “Please believe me. I know it looks like... please believe me. I thought if we’d... make out with a whore no one would suspect anything and...” He looked away and shrugged. “I guess you’d rather be on your way, by the way you look. Not that I blame you.”

It began to dawn on Knight, very slowly, what Leo had been trying to achieve. It was still hard for him to keep up, like it seemed to be every time he was hanging out with Leo, but his racing heart, the wrenching in his guts and his trembling hands told him that he wanted to do anything but run away. He took a deep breath and tried to bring his thoughts into some sort of order.

“Leo…”

Hearing his name Leo looked up again, a trace of hope in his eyes. It was that look that finally did it for Knight and he took a step forward, holding out his hands. Leo swallowed heavily and took them, looking at him as if he didn’t dare to trust his luck just yet.

“Leo... I can hardly believe you did this... you did this as a... cover up?”

Leo just nodded. 

“But…”

“Will…”

There it was, Knight realised, what he had been thinking about from the very first time he had heard Leo speak, his name coming from those lips in that smoky, deep and silky voice. He shuddered and pulled Leo closer to him. Their eyes met, and for a moment or two, time seemed to stand still.

When he suddenly felt he couldn’t stand anymore, Knight let go of Leo’s hands again and moved his hands up to his face, cupping Leo’s cheeks, and caressed his cheekbones with his thumbs. Leo blinked, and then gave him the most amazing, happy smile Knight had ever seen. It was impossible not to kiss him after this, so he did.

A gentle touch of lips at first, and another, before Leo opened his lips to him. Running his tongue along those lips Knight moved his hands from Leo’s face to the back of his head and neck before deepening the kiss, and he bur his hands into Leo’s hair, making him moan against Knight’s lips.

When Knight broke the kiss and leaned back, his heart racing and his breathing ragged, Leo stared at him in unmasked hunger, breathing hard and fast as well. 

“Will”, he whispered, making Knight shudder at the sound of his name. “I want you so much…”

Knight could do nothing else but kiss him again, and this time Leo slung his arms around him too, digging his fingers into Knight’s back as they kissed, open-mouthed and passionate, almost greedy.

Leo broke the kiss after a few moments and with hard and ragged breaths, and dropped his head onto Knight’s shoulders for a few seconds before he lifted his face again. 

“I want you so much, Will. I want you...” He breathed against Knight’s ear, making him shudder again as a cold shiver crept down his spine. 

“Leo”, Knight whispered. “I’m not dreaming, am I?”

At that, Leo leaned back and chuckled, his eyes glittering like jewels in the dim, reddish light of the room. “If you are, then we’re both having the same dream, and isn’t that fantastic?” He laughed softly and placed his hands on Knight’s shoulders.

“Please... get that armour off.” Then he plucked the beret off Knight’s head and dropped it to drag his fingers through the stubble of his hair. 

Knight was already unbuckling the straps and when Leo took a step back, he pulled the armour over his head and dropped it as well. 

Leo didn’t waste any time anymore after this. He tugged Knight’s shirt out of his belt and slipped his hands under it to run his hands across Knight’s chest and move them to his back. Knight lost his last reservations at that sensation and reciprocated the gesture when Leo claimed his lips again, both of them breathing hard and fast when Leo pulled back with a slow, sensuous smile and tugged Knight’s shirt up a little. Knight smiled as well and took the hem of his shirt in both hands, pulling it up. He heard the rustling of cloth and within mere moments they were both bare-chested, and after staring at each other hungrily for a second, slung their arms around each other again, skin on skin. Their lips met again in a hungry, greedy kiss as their hands travelled across each other’s bare torsos.

When Knight felt Leo’s hands come to rest on his hips and begin to grope at his belt he broke the kiss and leaned back, unable to hide a cocky grin as he looked at Leo’s flushed face. 

“In a hurry, are you?”

“Yes”, Leo gave back, finally having mastered the clasp of the belt, and after a moment added in a breathless chuckle: “I’ve waited for too many god damn weeks already.” 

Knight shook his head at this and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “I thought someone was pulling a nasty prank on me when I was on leave last time and learned that you’d come to the Outpost when I was away.”

Leo shook his head. “I couldn’t believe my luck either. I made my way back towards the Strip as fast as I could but... well. We missed each other nonetheless. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken the shortcut and tried to catch you on the road.”

“And what then?”

Leo paused and frowned thoughtfully for a moment before he shrugged. “You’ve got a point, you know.”

“We didn’t miss each other this time.”

“No, thank god”, Leo gave back and looked at Knight again a smile on his face. “Thank god.”

Knight ran a hand through Leo’s hair. “And now?”

“Now? Now as in _this moment_ or as in _times-to-come _?”__

__Knight couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “Both.”_ _

__Leo took a step forward and pressed his bare chest against Knight’s again while he slipped his fingers into Knight’s pants._ _

__“Regarding the latter, I’ve no fucking clue. Regarding the former...” He pressed a kiss on Knight’s bare shoulder and slid his fingers the tiniest bit deeper but kept them outside of his boxers. “I’ve god a pretty good idea for now as in, this moment.”_ _


	6. Chapter 6

“I see”, Knight said, his voice a little hoarse when he felt Leo’s fingers brush the curls of his pubic hair before they moved away from the waistband.

“Can I make a wish?”

“Anything”, Knight blurted out with a gasp as the fingers moved even lower.

Leo dropped his head against Knight’s shoulder with a chuckle and nuzzled his face against Knight’s neck before placing a few gentle kisses against the skin on his throat. “Really?”

“Really.” His voice didn’t really carry, Knight realized, but thinking became increasingly hard when Leo’s fingers moved lower yet and touched his hard-on through his boxers. 

Leo lifted his head and trailed his lips across Knight’s cheek. 

“I want you”, Leo breathed heavily into his ear and moved his hands to gently cup Knight’s balls. “I want your mouth, Will, and then I want you to do with me whatever you want.”

His words reached Knight only through a mild haze, but the hunger and desire in those words was unmistakable to him, nonetheless. Without hesitation Knight pushed Leo back and onto the bed where he knelt down before him, his breath coming in fast hard gasps as his trembling fingers began fumbling with the buckle of Leo’s belt.

Leo looked down on him, tenderness and hunger in his eyes as he ran his hands through Knight’s short hair, over and over again, as the latter freed Leo’s erection from the prison of his pants. Both men were breathing so hard that every breath was almost a moan when Knight leaned forward and, without taking his eyes off Leo’s face, took him into his mouth.

“Oh god...”, it escaped Leo in a huff of breath. “Will…”

Knight rested his eyes for a moment longer on Leo’s before he closed his own and concentrated on the task ahead and the sensations it blessed him with: Leo’s trembling cock in his mouth, the sharp, salty taste of the drops he licked off the bell-end, the silky skin covering the balls under his fingers.

And Leo’s voice, that incredible deep, smoky voice, ragged with arousal and whispering his name like a prayer, over and over again, as Leo’s fingers caressed his short hair.

Knight could have done this forever he felt, moving his head up and down, working the cock in his mouth with lips and tongue, fondling the balls in his hands with gentle fingers. But Leo’s breathing became increasingly hard and fast within minutes, and the chant of his name became almost a whine when he stopped for a while to make it last.

“Please...” Leo whispered. “Oh god, Will, don’t stop…”

It was impossible for Knight to disobey that voice so he closed his lips around Leo’s dick again and ran his tongue up and down the shaft. 

Mere moments later he felt the balls in his hands clench and the sharp thick taste of semen on his tongue when he heard Leo moan his name. The fingertips on his head dug into his scalp for want of hair to dig themselves into, and Knight sucked and swallowed and discovered nothing had ever tasted so good.

When he had licked the last drops away he pulled back, eliciting a gasp from Leo who opened his eyes and looked down at him, two thin trails of tears on his cheeks. Feeling a lump in his throat that refused to vanish no matter how hard he swallowed, Knight reached out and touched Leo’s cheek, brushing his fingers across the moisture.

Leo shook his head, an incredible smile spreading on his face. “I love you, Will. Oh god... I...I’m so in love with you.”

Caught in Leo’s stare, hungry, tender eyes the colour of emeralds, Knight let go and let himself drown in those eyes. He got up, pushed Leo onto his back and dropped down beside him, cupping his cheeks in his hands. 

“I’m in love with you too, Leo”, he whispered hoarsely before kissing him again. Leo opened his lips to him with a soft moan and slung his arms around him. 

Knight broke the kiss only to lean over Leo’s hips to help him out of his pants. He couldn’t help but let his eyes wander in amazement and admiration over the naked body sprawled out before him, as he shed his own pants and tossed them aside after impatiently kicking his boots off. He fell down beside Leo again who eagerly turned into his embrace. 

After another hungry, greedy kiss Knight pushed himself over and rolled on top of Leo, pinning his wrists down above his head. Leo smiled at him under lowered lids and whispered a little breathlessly that since this was the Gomorrah there’d bound to be some lube in one of the drawers of the nightstand.

Knight let go of Leo’s wrists to check and confirm that, and when he knelt down on Leo’s hips again the latter hadn’t moved his hands and was staring up at Knight with a desire so plainly written all over him that Knight had a hard time not to just plunge himself into him and fuck him raw.

Instead he gritted his teeth and pulled himself together for a moment, carefully dribbling some of the lube onto Leo’s ass who spread his legs for him with a sound that was almost a whimper, driving Knight almost mad with all those needy little sounds he made as Knight opened him up.

“Do what I want with you, yes?”, Knight asked in a ragged voice as he lubed himself up, and Leo under him nodded while licking his lips. “Good.” 

He didn’t waste any more time and closed his hands around Leo’s legs, pulled them further apart and sheathed himself with an absolute minimum of resistance.

Both men groaned hoarsely and sharply at the sensation before Knight let go of Leo’s legs again and fell forward. He propped himself up on his hands resting on either side of Leo’s face that was flushed with arousal, his temples glistening with sweat.

Knight claimed Leo’s lips again in a hungry and almost brutal kiss as he began to move, making Leo groan against his lips with each thrust. This, too, he could have done forever, but it simply had been too long, and he simply wanted Leo too much to make himself last that long. Harder and faster he went, but when he heard Leo moan his name against his lips he was done for. Three more thrusts and he reached the point of no return. He spent himself into Leo with a few last, bone grinding thrusts that made the other man moan so loudly it was almost a wail ,while Knight himself couldn’t help but groan Leo’s name.

Gasping for air and with trembling limbs he finally collapsed onto Leo’s body, who closed his arms around him to run one hand up and down Knight’s back and the other through the moist stubble of his hair.

They remained like this for a while, in blissful exhaustion and listening to each other’s heartbeat, before Knight slowly withdrew himself with another hiss and rolled off Leo to pull him close into his arms. Leo nestled his face into Knight’s shoulder and placed a soft kiss on his throat as he draped an arm around Knight’s torso in return.

Knight was almost about to drift off into sleep when he felt Leo’s lips trail a few kisses along his throat.

“Don’t fall asleep”, he muttered. “We need to vacate the room at one point.”

Knight remembered that they Leo had rented a room in a whorehouse for them, and blinked a few times to get his eyelids working again before he turned on his back.

Leo rested his head on Knight’s shoulder and trailed a hand through the hairs on Knight’s chest. “I need to tell you something.”

Knight felt the pleasant warmth in his body slowly evaporate. He turned his head, but Leo wasn’t looking up at him.

“It’s about the... what I told you, back at the Outpost. The things I had to do.”

Feeling a little uncomfortable, but only a little since Leo’s hand was still toying with chest hair, Knight turned his head to listen.

“You see... we’re fighting for a free and independent New Vegas, my friends and me, together with the Followers, the Kings and the Families.”

“Independent Vegas?”

He could feel Leo nod. “It’s all rather complicated. It started as me trying to find the man who shot me over a package I was supposed to deliver to House... and it ended with me being in charge of the whole business now.”

It took Knight a while to put two and two together. “You mean that you... you were the one to... did you kill House?”

“I did.” Leo’s voice sounded a little dark. “I had no choice. But what troubles me...” He took a deep breath. “What really troubles me is the NCR. They’ll never accept our independence, and I don’t want a war, but…”

Knight felt Leo tense and ran his hand through his hair. Leo sighed and went on.

“I can’t lie to you. There’s gonna be another battle at Hoover Dam, and I am going to win it with the army of New Vegas, courtesy of Mr. House.”

Knight gave this some thought. It wasn’t a pleasant prospect. “Are you sure?”, he asked after a moment.

“I’ve tried, you know”, Leo said unhappily. “I really tried. I tried to talk with the brass at the Dam; I tried it with the ambassador here in Vegas. But they are adamant that they want the Dam, and they want Vegas and are not willing to share.”

“I see”, Knight said, and he really did. “It means war.”

“It means a battle, at least. I hope that if I win it, they’ll give up.”

“And what then?”

Leo was silent for a long while before he answered, in a voice that sounded as if he was close to tears. “Then the NCR will withdraw out of the Mojave and... and…”

“And I’ll be gone as well”, Knight finished for him, feeling a cold, hard spot in his stomach grow. 

Leo tightened his arms around him and buried his face into Knight’s shoulder. “I don’t want this to happen, but once I started down that road…”

“I know”, Knight said softly and pulled Leo closer. “There’s lots of us simple soldiers that know, even if we don’t dare to speak it out loud, that it was not a good idea to come here. Lots of people say there’s nothing here for us but more fighting, that trying to hold the Mojave will drain the NCR bloodless at one point. It’s all about the bloody Dam.”

“I thought about destroying it, you know”, Leo said in a low voice. “So the NCR wouldn’t have any reason to stay anymore. But... I need the Dam, too. If Vegas is to survive, I need the Dam.”

“And the NCR has to go.” Knight felt Leo nod and turned his head to rest his face against Leo’s hair. “Do you know... when?”

“Soon”, Leo replied after a second. “Soon. Will you... will they send you into the fighting as well?”

Knight took a deep breath. “Depends on how things are going, but I’d dare say that most likely yes.”

“Oh god”, Leo gasped and held onto Knight so tightly that the latter could feel Leo’s fingertips dig themselves painfully into his flesh. “What if I kill you?”

Knight closed his arms tighter around Leo and sighed. “It’s the fortune of war. There’s nothing we can do about it. I can try to stay at the edge of the fighting, but that’s about it.”

“You’re not a deserter”, Leo whispered then. “You’re too good and honourable a man for that.”

Knight forced himself to stop gritting his teeth. “I don’t know if honour has anything to do with it but... no... I don’t think I can desert my unit now. Apart from that... apart from that, I’d never be able to go home again, see my family.”

They remained like that in silence for another while, but their time was already running out. They shared a last kiss before leaving the hotel room, both of them aware of the fact that most likely, they would never kiss again. They parted without looking at each other again, for fear of giving anything away.

Three days later, the Legion attacked Hoover Dam.


	7. Chapter 7

The battle was brutal and short. In less than an hour the Legion had been defeated, but the NCR had suffered far too high losses as well. 

General Oliver and Colonel Moore had gathered the troops, and while Oliver had commandeered a last unit of elite soldiers and rangers, Moore had led the others towards McCarran, urging and lashing the tired, beaten soldiers onward and onward long past the point of exhaustion.

It took two days to bring the troops into marching order for the trek back home, and another three for the NCR to get a fleet of vertibirds going to transport the wounded. 

Major Knight had held himself in the background, watching the vertibirds come and go, but finally, he had realised his time had come, too. The last of the choppers was waiting, and there was nothing left for him but leave the Mojave behind. The pain in his heart was far worse than the one in his skull where a bandage covered a deep gash in his forehead from a bullet that had grazed him; and he climbed into the vertibird with a heavy heart, falling back into his seat with sweat of exhaustion beading on his temples. 

As the last soldiers climbed on board, Knight let his eyes wander across his last view of Vegas, the fortifications, the ruined houses, watching the dust being kicked up by the starting rotors above them.

From between the houses, someone came running for the vertibird. The two uninjured soldiers who were guarding their fallback primed their weapon on the running man, but upon realising that he was unarmed, relaxed again.

The rotors picked up speed and through the hellish noise they made they could hear the man running for the vertibird shout something, but were unable to discern what he was shouting. 

The chopper began to rock as it was about to lift off when Knight, still staring out of the door, recognised the man running towards them. 

“Will!!”

The last of the injured men had boarded the chopper and the two guards jumped onboard as well, the second one pulling the door shut behind him. 

Knight wished he never had looked out again so he would have been spared Leo’s desperate, anguished face upon realizing he had come too late. He fell back in his seat, his head hurting worse than it had when he got the damn bullet, and he tried to push the memories of Leo’s voice screaming his name in desperation out of his mind. 

The vertibid had left the ground and picked up speed, heading westwards and away from the Mojave Desert and the city of New Vegas. Knight closed his eyes and tried to make himself believe that he was looking forward to seeing his family again.

Below them, Leo had dropped onto his knees in the dust and stared at the vanishing vertibird with a tear-stained face.


	8. Chapter 8

Leo sat on the steps that led up to the Lucky38, lost in memories so pleasant and painful that he didn’t know if she should cry or smile. He settled for the latter, staring at his hands, and tried to piece together how long ago this had been. Five months, was his conclusion. Five months since he had fought for Hoover Dam and won. That New Vegas had won. Had fought for survival for a time after that, but had won.

After an uneasy truce with the NCR, he had been able to establish a cautious peace with them, and custom on the Strip had slowly increased again. Everything had begun to fall into place.

Leaning back, Leo let his eyes wander across the Strip, watching the whores in front of the Gomorrah, the securitrons guarding the place, and the drunks and stragglers milling between them. And a single man entering through the gate who seemed neither drunk nor straggling, wearing heavily used, dusty boots, jeans, and a simple, chequered shirt, a duffle bag slung across one shoulder.

He seemed somewhat familiar and Leo slowly got up, dusted off his backside, and took a few steps towards the stranger only to stop dead in his tracks when the man turned to face him. A huge grin spread on his face, covered in untidy stubble, and he dropped the bag and broke out into a run.

“Leo!”

Leo stood frozen to the spot, shaking his head in mute disbelief.

“Leo...” Will came to halt before him and the grin on his face slowly died. “Leo... it’s me... Will. Remember?”

“You came back?”, Leo finally managed to choke out, fighting his tears. 

Will, however, seemed to misinterpret his expression and faltered, the happiness in his eyes replaced with a wary kind of disappointment. 

“I... yeah... I resigned.”

Leo blinked. “You what?”

“I resigned”, Will repeated. “I... I was fed up with it all, the being ordered around and the... the hushing up. Know what I did? I went to my mom after I was home, had her sit down with me at the kitchen table and told her.”

Leo blinked and felt a tiny smile creep onto his face. “And?”

Will shrugged, an embarrassed grin appearing on his face. “She said: ‘Oh boy, why didn’t you tell me before? You could’ve saved us all a lot of trouble.’ Then she fed me some apple pie she had just made, and told me not to worry about my dad and that she’d work him round, but... you know. I thought I’d tell him myself. And you know what?” Here he chuckled and shook his head. “All he said was: ‘Yeah, well, good thing we’ve got grandkids already.’ Just like that...” 

Leo couldn’t help but grin, but Will’s grin softened into a smile. 

“And you know... Leo, I...” Will rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. “I couldn’t... I mean... the way you came running for that chopper... I…”

Leo avoided his eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know what…”

“Hey.”

Leo looked up again to find Will stare at him. 

“Leo.”

“Hm?”

Will took a step forward. “I... Leo... oh fuck it.” He took a deep breath. “I came as fast as I could, Leo. Do you want me back?”

Leo blinked as if he’d been slapped. “Are you serious?”, he rasped, his voice suddenly hoarse.

“If I wasn’t, would I have trekked hundreds of miles through the desert to catch up with you?”

They stared at each other for a moment longer before both of them moved simultaneously, throwing their arms around each other and slapping each other’s back. After a few moments Will leaned back to look at Leo again, with both of their cheeks wet with tears. 

“God almighty, I’ve missed you, Leo.”

Leo wiped a hand across his face and smiled, a huge grin of disbelief mixed with joy. “I missed you too, Will. Missed you like hell.”

Leo felt his heart race as if it meant to break free of his ribcage, but unable to stop smiling he slung an arm around Will’s neck and pulled him close. 

When their lips met, a few people around them began to cheer and clap. Ignoring them, the two men deepened their kiss, forgetting everything around them, each of them aware only of the body close to him. 

The voice from a passing securitron chirped up like a sound from another world.

“Move along please.”


End file.
